The Company House

The Company House opened in January 2009 at 2202 Gottingen Street. MaryAnnDaye? owned and managed this acoustic music venue showcasing musicians, both emerging and established, from the local area and all over North America.

TCH was a community space welcoming visual artists and other groups wishing to host events in the space; from fundraisers to book readings. The Company Host hosted its first lesbian wedding on August 8, 2009!

History

2008

Halifax is a music city. Some say it's the Atlantic Ocean, others believe it's the endless winters, the source or reason doesn't matter to MaryAnnDaye?. She just hopes to foster it with The Company House.

"My official deadline is to be open for the In the Dead of Winter Festival (January 27-31)," says Daye. "Music is first for me, as there is a lack of good spaces for live acoustic, singer-songwriter to perform. I know a lot of musicians and they are just crying out for somewhere to play. I want to make that happen."

Construction is well underway at The Company House, formerly home of The Galleria, as many local artists, including: Jenn Grant, Don Brownrigg, TanyaDavis?, Daniel Ledwell and Kev Corbett have all got their hands dirty.

As you enter the building the bar is to the right of the spacious venue, a corner stage is elevated to the left, but it's the deep red painted walls that should tug at heartstrings. The deep shade is reminiscent of the walls of the legendary KhyberClub, formerly operated by Daye's partner and In the Dead of Winter founder HeatherGibson?, which was abruptly forced to close in February 2006.

"There has been an amazing outpouring of support from the community that wants to be a part of this," she says. "Everything that's happening in this area, Gottingen is going to be what it once was – the main drag in Halifax."

June 2016

April 2017

Comedians the "Laugh House" event make offensive jokes about transgender and nonbinary people. One of the comedians made jokes about his ex, a transgender or nonbinary person, and suggested he would "warn" the other comedians about them; others made trans jokes.1

2017

After much consideration, we have decided to close The Company House. We have been lucky enough to work with some amazing artists and have made some life long friends but after continual personal harassment of ourselves, our family, and child, we have decided that it is better for us to move on. The peace of mind and safety of our family is most important. We will be forever grateful for the good times and look forward to the next chapter in our lives. Please continue to support local arts and please support local businesses and products. There are so many great things that our province has to offer and they could use all the love they can get. Cheers to happier days to come!

Our last curtain call will be September 5th.

Since taking over the space in June 2016, owner EmmaLeigh Rivera said there was ongoing concern that the space was being taken away from the LGBTQ community. That escalated after a comedy performance in April, when several jokes in the show were flagged as offensive, particularly toward non-binary individuals, and activists called for a boycott of the venue. "It's been just kind of ongoing harassment ... People had lots of feelings about that and taking that out on us, calling us very horrific names. They knew a lot of personal information about my family's whereabouts and things like that. It's been a bit of a struggle," Rivera said. 2